New from Cambridge University Press!

Edited By Keith Allan and Kasia M. Jaszczolt

This book "fills the unquestionable need for a comprehensive and up-to-date handbook on the fast-developing field of pragmatics" and "includes contributions from many of the principal figures in a wide variety of fields of pragmatic research as well as some up-and-coming pragmatists."

Kevin Watson, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University

SUMMARYThis textbook is aimed at students of English Language who are at the verybeginning of their university studies or are studying A Level English Languageat school or college. It assumes ''an interest in language use'' rather than anyprevious knowledge of linguistic terminology, and so introduces readers tovarious aspects of English language investigation from first principles. Thebook is divided into seven chapters, referred to as ''units'', each of which isbetween 11-14 pages long. Each unit follows a consistent format, with thesections of the main content intersected by at least one activity fordiscussion, followed by a concluding summary and at least one extension task.

Unit 1, ''Region, nation, locale''This unit introduces regionality and regional identity as general notions,initially divorced from language variation. Questions considered include: Whatis a region? And how are regions delimited by the people living in them? Aremore ''local'' regions being replaced by larger, ''supralocal'' ones? It isconcluded that the concept of a region must be fluid, ''covering whatevergeographical areas are considered distinct from each other by the people livingin them, and whatever varieties of English are perceived as different from eachother by the people who speak and hear them'' (p. 4). This helpfully broaddiscussion leads well into certain themes which are touched on here and expandedin later units, including stereotype, prestige, and issues of speaker identity.The unit ends with an activity based on an identity questionnaire, which isaccompanied by a detailed commentary highlighting the significance of thequestions asked in it.

Unit 2, ''Regional language and its uses'' Unit 2 is based around two texts – both written for comic effect – which presenttwo varieties of regional language. Beal explains how the language in the textsdiffers from standard English and provides a framework for analysis. Theframework includes both internal aspects of vocabulary, grammar andpronunciation and external aspects such as intended audience and purpose. Thefirst text represents the regional language of an area of northern England. Itfunctions as a worked example and is accompanied by a detailed 6 pagecommentary. The second text represents the language of Pittsburgh, and also hasa detailed commentary. This time the commentary is provided at the end of thebook, presumably to allow readers to think about the text themselves beforeseeing the ''answers''.

Unit 3, ''Attitudes to regional language''This unit examines attitudes towards and stereotypes of regional language.Classic studies are mentioned (e.g. Giles 1970, Labov 1972) and key termshighlighted (e.g. speech communities, salient variables). The classic studiesare connected to examples from more recent lay discussion, such as the popularrankings of regional accents typically found in newspapers. The unit has twoactivities. The first is based around a set of points for discussion focusing ona newspaper article about the perceived need for elocution lessons in order forspeakers to succeed in the workplace, and the second is a research task in whichattitudes to regional language can be elicited and analyzed.

Unit 4, ''Recognising accents''Unit 4 focuses on the identification of certain phonological variables in orderto locate regional varieties geographically. Following a general discussionabout the recognition of accent features, the unit demonstrates how Trudgill's(1999: 68) sentence (''very few cars made it up the long hill'') can be used toidentify regional varieties of British English. Each word of the sentence istaken in turn, and certain features of UK Englishes are highlighted. Theactivity in this unit encourages readers to use the sentence to describe theirown variety of English.

Unit 5, ''Words and things''Moving away from a focus on phonology, unit 5 examines lexical variation. Theunit begins by describing lexical attrition in the UK, or at least theperception of it, but also gives examples of newer words which have onlyrecently been documented (e.g. 'chav', in the UK). The issue of distinguishingbetween terms such as 'dialect words', 'colloquialisms', 'slang' and 'jargon' isnoted. A major part of this unit is a discussion of how researchers tap intospeakers' lexical knowledge. Two activities are provided. In the first, adialect questionnaire meant to elicit dialect vocabulary, based onBurbano-Elizondo (2001), is illustrated, and in the other sense relationnetworks are introduced (adapted from Llamas 1999).

Unit 6, ''Regional grammar''Unit 6 examines grammatical variation, and at the same time introduces readersto some grammatical terminology. Features considered include plural marking insecond person pronouns, double modals, use of the definite article with propernouns, non-standard past tense marking, double negatives and double marking ofcomparatives. Where appropriate, comment is made about how modern-day variationin these variables compares to the situation in earlier Standard Englishes.There are two activities in this unit. The first provides a section oftranscribed speech in which readers are asked to identify the non-standardgrammatical features, and the second is a dialect questionnaire meant to tapinto speakers' awareness of such features. The extension section of this unitprovides an excellent ''check-list'' of grammatical features that could vary fromdialect to dialect. While it is clearly impossible to list all features in sucha list, a useful selection of 25 possibilities is given, along with examples.

Unit 7, ''Writing in dialect''This final unit of the book revisits some of the issues first introduced in unit2, but rather than focusing on texts created for humorous purposes, this unitexamines texts in which more ''literary'' authors use dialect in their writing. Adistinction is made between 'dialect literature' and 'literary dialect', before4 texts are analyzed (from Irvine Welsh's _Trainspotting_, Rudyard Kipling's''Tommy'', Elizabeth Gaskell's _North and South_, and John Harley's ''BiteBigger''). Each text is accompanied by a 1 page commentary. The activity in thisunit is the analysis of a piece of dialect writing, using the framework that wasfirst introduced in unit 2.

There are more sections following the final unit. The book ends with (i) acommentary section providing discussion of activities offered in earlier units(over 10 pages), (ii) a list of phonetic symbols with examples of words in whichthey occur, (iii) a list of references and suggestions for further reading, and(iv) an index of terms, which also acts as a glossary.

EVALUATIONThere are many good points about this book. It is set at exactly the right levelfor students in introductory courses on language variation, particularly thoseat the very beginning of a university program or those who have yet to startone. It is also very suitable for students of A Level English Language. Bealassumes no previous knowledge of linguistic terminology, and so eases studentsinto the content of the book gently, encouraging them to think independently butat the same time holding their hand long enough to give them the confidence tovoice their opinions.

The book is written in a lively, accessible style, and the units are short andeasy to digest. Many of the examples are couched in terms of things studentreaders will be familiar with (including popular TV serials such as _Friends_and _Eastenders_, movies such as _Shaun of the Dead_ and _Scream_, and plenty ofwebsites, which can be used for further investigation). Furthermore, centralvariationist issues are introduced at the same time as the necessary linguisticterminology. For example, readers do not spend time learning about modals beforethey learn about variation in modals – the two are neatly juxtaposed. This helpsto maintain the focus of the book but at the same time teaches terminologythrough the ''back door''. The activities provided in each unit are wellconceived, and the accompanying commentaries are very detailed (e.g. the twoactivities offered in unit 2 have almost 10 pages of discussion devoted tothem). An additional benefit of the commentaries is that they are written not inbullet points or with annotations of particular texts, but in full paragraphs inwhich, for the most part, particular linguistic phenomena are taken in turn(e.g. a commentary may first deal with vocabulary before moving topronunciation). Thus, they make students aware not only of the important pointsin relation to the discussion activity, but also how to write these kinds ofanswers. Students must learn how to provide answers that are detailed andpeppered with copious linguistic examples, yet which are succinct andwaffle-free, but they seldom see writing like this on which to base their own.Thus, Beal not only provides guidance on linguistic content in thesecommentaries, but also on the framing of the discussion.

The only negative comments I will make are quibbles rather than real points ofcriticism.

As I pointed out above, the check-list of grammatical features provided in unit6 is excellent. However, there is a wide range of terminology in the list whichis not mentioned elsewhere in the book and is not included in the index of terms(e.g. object, right dislocation, concord). I appreciate that it would beimpossible to cover all these terms in a short book such as this, and that to doso would perhaps be unsuitable given the book's target audience, but I think itwould have been useful to have these things as entries in the index of terms.That said, Beal notes (p. 111) that the glossary is not intended to be complete,and points the reader to Crystal (2003) for further information. This was a goodidea, allowing students to explore further should they wish to do so.

There is a problem with some of the phonetic symbols, which may have becomecorrupt during printing. For example, the symbol for the lateral fricative isgiven when a dark /l/ is being described (p. 49) and in the index of terms thesymbol [a] is given as part of the definition of schwa (p. 116).

Finally, any book which has referencing to internet resources runs the risk ofthe URL cited changing after the publication of the book, and this seems to bethe case on just a few occasions here (e.g. p. 2).

Despite these minor points, this is an excellent book which should find a placein all introductory courses in which accents and dialects are a central concern.

Llamas, C. 1999. A new methodology: data elicitation for social and regionallanguage variation studies. _Leeds Working Papers in Linguistics_ 7: 95-119.

ABOUT THE REVIEWERDr. Kevin Watson is a lecturer in English Phonetics in the Department ofLinguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, UK. His researchinterests center on sociophonetic variation in accents of English, specificallybut not exclusively in the north-west of England. He is also interested in howissues of sociolinguistic variation intersect with linguistic theory, and howvariation in phonetics and phonology can be modeled in the grammar.